Despite suffering a slowdown in advertising revenues, share pickers have kept the faith with ITV (LSE: ITV) and a stock price surge that started in December now leaves the business dealing at nine-month highs.
ITV saw net advertising revenue sink 3% in 2016, to £1.67bn, and warned that it expects sales to fall 6% over the first four months of the present period “against the backdrop of current economic uncertainty.”
However, last week’s release was not all doom and gloom, with revenues at ITV Studios shooting 13% higher, to £1.4bn, and sales at its Online, Pay & Interactive arm rising by almost a quarter, to £231m.
Now don’t get me wrong, these ad market pressures are expected to put paid to ITV’s enviable record of earnings growth, and a 5% fall is predicted for the present year. However, this is expected to be a temporary setback and a 5% recovery is expected in 2018.
And in spite of ITV’s recent share price charge, the firm still provides plenty of bang for investors’ buck, with P/E ratios of 12.8 times for 2017 and 12.3 times for 2018 situated below the benchmark of 15 that is widely considered attractive value.
But ITV isn’t only a great ISA bet for growth chasers, in my opinion, its role as a dependable dividend raiser providing an extra reason for your attention. Indeed, last year’s 7.2p per share dividend is expected to rise to 8p this year and 9.3p in 2018, figures that yield 3.9% and 4.5% respectively.
Soaring star
Corporate jet servicer BBA Aviation (LSE: BBA) has also rocketed in recent sessions, the stock hitting 21-month highs earlier this month after positive trading news.
The flying ace advised that revenues barged 25% higher in 2016, to £2.15bn, a result that propelled underlying total operating profit to $330.1m, up 63% year-on-year.
And the Square Mile expects BBA Aviation to keep the pace up, printing a 19% earnings advance in 2017 and to follow this up with an extra 10% bump in 2018.
An average P/E ratios of 16.5 times for this year slips to 15 times for 2018, and as business jet traffic Stateside picks up, BBA Aviation is in the box seat to enjoy stellar growth, helped by shrewd acquisitions like that of fellow fixed-base operator Landmark Aviation in 2015.
Shuffling higher
Shoe specialist Jimmy Choo (LSE: CHOO) has also gained traction in recent sessions following positive trading numbers of its own.
The stock has moved to all-time peaks after advising last week that “improving retail momentum” during the second half of 2016 shoved full-year revenues 14.5% higher to £364m.
Favourable currency movements played a huge part, but one cannot underestimate the impact of Jimmy Choo’s foray into the menswear market, not to mention the terrific growth potential thrown up by its global expansion drive.
Analysts expect these measures to push Jimmy Choo’s earnings 30% and 13% higher in 2017 and 2018. I reckon the company’s exceptional brand power should keep delivering excellent bottom-line expansion, and that investors should shrug off slightly-toppy P/E ratios of 19.3 times and 17 times for this year and next and take a closer look.
